A new crackdown on tax evasion will make information on all credit and debit card payments to UK businesses available to HMRC for the first time. Legislation was introduced in FA 2013 s 228 allowing HMRC access to merchant acquirer data, and came into effect on 1 September 2013 (SI 2013/1811). Under these new powers, HMRC can now access information from the UK’s merchant acquirers – the companies that process card payment transactions – to find out the number and value of transactions completed by a specific trader. No personal data identifying the card owners or card numbers will be obtained, but this data will be used to ensure that traders have correctly accounted for all taxes due – levelling the playing field for all businesses. HMRC estimates that this information could reduce fraud by over £50m per annum.
A new crackdown on tax evasion will make information on all credit and debit card payments to UK businesses available to HMRC for the first time. Legislation was introduced in FA 2013 s 228 allowing HMRC access to merchant acquirer data, and came into effect on 1 September 2013 (SI 2013/1811). Under these new powers, HMRC can now access information from the UK’s merchant acquirers – the companies that process card payment transactions – to find out the number and value of transactions completed by a specific trader. No personal data identifying the card owners or card numbers will be obtained, but this data will be used to ensure that traders have correctly accounted for all taxes due – levelling the playing field for all businesses. HMRC estimates that this information could reduce fraud by over £50m per annum.
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